Career Advise

My name is Megan and I am 33 year old criminal justice student. I will be looking to enter the workforce very soon. Seeing that I have never working within the field and have little exp. I was wondering what would help make me more marketable. I was thinking about getting certified in hand guns (not CHL), first aide/CPR, and self defense. I think that would help but I am unsure (I am not going into the law enforcement end of the field was thinking about either juvenile or adult parole/probation). Any advise in this arena would be great! Also does anyone out there know about any interships in the Dallas area aside from the Dallas PD (they dont accept my schools accredation)

I would also like to give a shout out to all the LEOs out there...I want to thank all of you for keepin us safe, and stay safe out there!

Also sorry for any misspellings my spell checker decided to throw a hissy fit!...lol

Learning a foreign language (preferrably Spanish for your area) will be a much better step than any of the things you were considering, knowing a foreign language makes you a much more desirable applicant.

I took a Spanish for Law Enforcement class, which teaches commands and such as well as asking suspect description and what not and it has been a really big help, a typical Spanish class will teach you correct Spanish but most Hispanics speak a slang form of Spanish and people from Spain speak a more proper form. I would find out what genre of people are in the area you want to work in and excell in your education in that area, I think having an edge of other applicants is very important and wouldnt knock getting certifications however you would most likely get certified in the same things through their academy any way.

First - lose the avatar. The last thing you want to be considered to these kids is their "friend" or their peer. Also employers look closely at what you are posting during the interviewing process. And secondly, Congrats! Self defense is always a plus since you'll only be allowed to use SPM when working with juveniles. You can never go wrong learning Spanish - great call Bluelinefarms. Volunteer or if you're lucky get a job as a youth mentor. Check out jobs with your State. AdrieK is a great one to talk to on here. best of luck to you!

"A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars." - Carly Simon
YaYa's Queen Dancing Creek

This is all such great advise. And the avatar I agree I just love the charater! I thank you all for letting me know and I will be looking into all of your suggestions.

Again thank you so much! As far as the juvenile probation officer I am not real sure that I will be going into that area because I have three kids myself and two of them are have PTSD and ADHD so it would be very hard to balance that as well as remove my emotion from my job. I tend to get way overly attached when it comes to kidos! I have been thinking more along the lines of adult. But either way the advice fits any area of the field! Thanks again everyone!